Over the years, I have had countless discussions about, and conducted research into, platform work. The conversation often revolves around the same question: are platform workers employees or self-employed workers? It is an understandable question. After all, legal classification determines rights, obligations, representation and protection.

But the longer I follow this market, the clearer it becomes that this focus can sometimes be a pitfall. The employment contract may well be the norm for labour markets in the Global North, but in the ‘Majority world’, where 80 per cent of the global population lives, this is not the case. And whilst lawyers argue over definitions, the market is changing at a rapid pace. Platforms adapt procedures and introduce new schemes before regulations even take effect. Furthermore, in practice I see that a shift from freelancer to employee yields less for the worker than hoped for. Platforms evade their responsibility by working with subcontractors or simply ignore a court ruling.

How can you make binding agreements with platforms regarding minimum standards for platform workers? This question was central to a recent WageIndicator webinar, where researcher Alex Veen from the University of Sydney and Jack Boutros from the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) in Australia shared their experiences. Their story offers an interesting alternative perspective. Not because Australia has found the answer – nobody has got that far yet – but because there, partly due to the nature of the organisation of the labour market, a fundamentally different choice has been made.